Leaving Roncesvalles, we walked again with our Camino friends Lee and Lorraine whom we met on our first day in Moissac. We walked together off and on all the way.
We chose a short, leisurely day of about 9 mIles which would put us in Viskarette. We have plenty of time.
We wanted to explore Burguette which played a role in Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises which we recently re-read.
We stopped at a cafe next to the Burguette church. Families were gathering for Sunday service. The kids were in traditional Basque clothing, reminding us a bit of the Amish. The Civil Guard arrived and closed the single main road in town for a procession. We walked on to Espinal.
In Espinal we were hailed by a local man, Domingo. He has been living in Namibia and teaching math there while trying to encourage more entrepreneurial undertakings by locals.
He grew up in a family of 12 children in Espinal. His family always had food because they grew it and had animals. He wants the same for Namibian families.
He showed us through his ancestral home. It was a magnificent Camino moment.
We arrived in early afternoon, found a bar, and spent a few hours chatting with other pilgrims who wandered in for a rest. That included sisters from Alaska walking with their father's girl friend, who is about our age. Their father had rented a camper and was following along because he could not do the walking.
We stayed at a super clean, modern pension called Curazon Pura. We shared a bath and had a large room with twin beds. For dinner they served a fresh garden salad, paella, and Basque cake. Wine, water, and bread included. Breakfast had cereal, hard cooked eggs, toast, juice, coffee. The total cost for the two of us was 38€ (about $44)!
Others at dinner were a brother and sister from Norway and a German couple. The conversation in English --- our shared language was lively about places we'd stayed and sights along the way. The brother and sister arrived late enough that all 3 floors of the Roncesvalles albergue were full. They had stayed in overflow "boxes", trailers they described as storage containers! Glad we had cold bunk beds!
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